A Mother's Lullaby
by Malicious Ink
Summary: What exactly would a mother do to protect their child? Have you ever wondered what really happened the night Zuko's mother left?


**Disclaimer:** I do not own the animated series Avatar: The Last Air Bender. I make no claim to the characters.

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_You'd like to know, wouldn't you? _Azula's tiny, yet spiteful voice danced through Ursa's mind, trampling over her rational thought processes and conjuring up an image of the wicked child's smirking face in her mind's eye. _Well, I might as well tell you. _The image of Azula grinned even wider and walked across the room, shrugging as if they were speaking casually instead of over her sibling's life, and causing Ursa to shake in fury; how could a she have gave birth to such a malicious being?

_Father's going to kill Zuko. _Those words echoed through her head over and over, bouncing back and fourth. They had been meaningless at first. She had stood there staring at Azula with her heart beating wildly and her body frozen in place. When she was able to make sense of them she felt as if her entire world had been ripped out from underneath her feet and she was falling down a dark chamber. Her knees had given out and she had landed on the ground.

Azula had laughed at this; it was a shrill and unflattering cackle that had filled her mother with such rage that she found the energy to pull herself up off the ground and slap her across the face. Azula had found herself on her knees with tears streaming down her face and a hand cupped to her right cheek, watching as her mother's feet pass her.

_I hope you're next! _That was the last thing Ursa had heard Azula say, in such a spiteful, voice it sounded almost like a hiss. Little did Azula know it would be the last thing she would ever say to her mother, for what Ursa had resigned herself to do would most likely end tragically; she at least hoped that it would be for her and not her son.

With her heart racing and her mind focused solely on one purpose she stealthily made her way through the courtyard; she crept past the pond which she and her son often sat by, past the set of trees her son had first learned of his firebending abilities underneath, and made her way into the corridor leading to the palace's main chamber, to the Firelord's throne room.

Ursa flattened herself against the wall and slowly crept through the hall. She maintained her breathing and footfalls so that she could hear even a mouse creeping through the access way, yet never be heard her self. Her body and soul were focused on this one purpose and nothing could stop her, not even the guards that she could hear walking down the hall adjacent to the one she lurking in.

She froze in the hall and waited for the footfalls to dissipate. Once she was positive they were gone she continued down the hall until she found herself outside of the Firelord's chamber. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting the air fill her lungs and wash away her nerves. Her body, which had seemed calm on the outside, had been shaking terribly on the inside until this moment; now she needed to be calm, now she needed strength, not for herself, not for her husband, but in order to protect the one she loved the most.

**.xXx.**

She pushed the double doors open and stepped into the dimly lit room, reopened her eyes, and gazed upon the multitude of fire nation banners, and crimson columns leading up to the throne. Her eyes widened when she saw that the flame, which was kept at a constant height by the Firelord himself, was not lit, and the throne was empty. Instantly her eyes began to scan the room and panic began to fill every crevice of her body. _He must know…_She thought as she began to back up and move towards the door, only to stumble when she turned, and land on her knees.

"Welcome, Ursa," said a familiar, cold, voice, as a figure moved out from behind the curtains on the left and stepped in front of her, "please, stand up. It won't be a fair fight otherwise." He extended a hand to her, but she pulled back and jumped to her feet with an amazing display of agility, putting a great deal of distance between her and Firelord Azulon.

"You seem surprised," he said calmly as he stepped forward with his folded across his chest and tucked into the opposite sleeves of his robes, "of course I knew you'd come here and try to extract revenge on me for the ultimatum I have given Ozai; however, I warn you now, if you do manage to defeat me in an agni kai, Zuko still will not be safe from my son and I think you know why."

"Shut up!" Ursa shouted, losing the self control she had worked so hard to maintain and causing blue flames to erupt from her hands; her voice echoed through the room multiple times until it died down to a hush whisper and Azulon began to chuckle.

"It is not my fault the boy is weak willed," Azulon said as he pulled his arms out and created his own fire, which was a mixture of yellow and green, "now lets begin." He shot the first ball of fire towards Ursa, who quickly deflected right, and the fireball set one of the fire nation banners up in flames. "_Tsk, tsk,_" Azulon shook his head, "you're disgracing our great nation with every move you make."

Ursa grit her teeth; she believed that this nation hadn't been great since Sozin was Firelord and it would never be great again until someone who didn't share his twisted mentality was on the throne. Full of rage, she threw two fire balls his way, but Azulon quickly deflected both with his own wave of fire. Smoke filled the room and a fresh wave of fire was formed on both sides; it collided and dispersed. Both fighters ran towards each other, bending waves of fire at each other, jumping over them, and watching them collide. The flames were snuffed out momentarily and Azulon took this moment to create a whip and slide it through the cloud of black smoke that had blinded both of them. He slid it across the entire room, setting the tips of the banners on fire, and slashing Ursa on the leg.

Ursa let out a cry of pain and jumped into the air, creating blue lightning and shooting it at her target. She missed and Azulon counterattacked with the same technique, however he did this from the ground, as she was falling. It came straight at her as she fell into the smoke; he couldn't see her while she was in the smoke, but he assumed he had hit her for there was a long silence.

"It's a shame, Ozai won't learn of your demise until after her takes Zuko's life." Azulon sighed as he turned away from the smoke, letting his guard down for he was absolutely positive he hadn't missed his mark, and began to walk towards the door. "Perhaps things would've went differently if you had made Ozai your target inst- " The words, which were meant to spite what he thought was the now dying Ursa, ended up being his demise.

She had been struck, however it hadn't been directly. It had been in the arm and she had been struggling to overcome the shock in the cloud of smoke, until she heard what Azulon had said. It gave her enough strength to pull herself up off of the ground and finish what she had started. She had no other choice but to do so.

The cloud dispersed and she slowly stepped forward, her body swaying from side to side; she was breathing slowly and she used her unharmed arm to guide her injured one. She aimed her fingers towards Azulon's back, lining her pointy fingernails up with his heart, and shot out a burst of lightning that was so bright it was pure white and temporarily swallowed the room in its radiance.

Azulon's eyes widened as he saw the bright light eat at the shadows in the room and he turned in order to defend himself, however wasn't able to take a bending stance fast enough and was struck right in the heart. His eyes bulged and he fell to the ground, smoke rising from the blackened spot on his chest.

"Zuko will become Firelord someday and I know he will do great things, just you wait and see." Ursa said coldly as she ran out of the room and down the corridor. Her heart was racing and sweat pooled down her face; the palace, which normally was so easy to navigate seemed like a labyrinth to her and she found herself running in circles under the pale moonlight. Eventually she found herself in the courtyard, running through the trees, stumbling over stepping stones, and splashing through the pond she had completely forgotten existed.

In her frantic flight she was completely unaware of the footfalls that were only a few inches away and as she reached the corridor that led towards her children's bedrooms she was caught off guard by a person lurking in the shadows. She went to scream, but a hand clasped over her mouth, just as the other had around her arm. The hand on her arm was crushing her.

"This was not something for you to get involved in," hissed a gruff voice that she instantly recognized as her husbands, "and now you'll have to pay for it." He stepped out of the shadows and glared down at her, his golden eyes shining in the moonlight; for a moment Ursa thought she saw a pang of sadness filter across them, but instantly corrected her assumption when she took in his next set of words. "Go, leave here now, or I will kill you, and the boy. You are here by banished from this place and if you wish to survive, I'd change my name and appearance as quickly as possible if I were you. If I ever, so much as see or hear about you, I will kill you."

Ozai glared down at Ursa and then let go of her, turning away from her, and crossing the courtyard. He would go into his father's throne room and destroy the evidence of an agni kai and make it seem as if he was just a grieving son who had found his father dead in his chamber, as opposed to the husband of a traitor, who had cleaned his father up from his chamber. He would also see to it that his father's dying wishes were that _he _be Firelord and not Iroh.

**.xXx.**

As Ursa quickly ran towards her son's bedroom a brief flashback of her and Zuko sitting beside the pond she had passed through only moments ago passed through her mind, causing her to smile gently, and a single tear to pass down her cheek. It seemed so ironic now that when he had been bitten by a mother turtle duck for harming its duckling that her response had been "That's how mother's are. If you mess with their babies, you'll get bit." That memory was enough to give her hope; perhaps Zuko would understand and he wouldn't harbor feelings of hatred towards her.

She entered his bedroom and pulled him up off of his bed and into her arms, "Zuko, Zuko…" He was barely awake when she explained to him briefly why she did what she had done and not to forget who he was; however she knew he would remember what she had said, even if for the time being he believed it was only a dream.

"Now sleep," she had set him back down in his bed and kissed him on the forehead. She gripped at her injured arm and ran as quickly as possible out of the palace and into the night. No one followed her and she took the paths she knew were almost always abandoned now and during her childhood.

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**Author's Note:** I found this on my computer when I was updating _The Fallen Kingdom _and I thought it was pretty good, so, I hope you guys think so as well! Please review.


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